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Fernando Alonso expects to retire after McLaren-Honda

When Fernando Alonso was three years old, his father gave him a model of a McLaren-Honda grand prix car. That's where his path to Formula One started, and it's where he wants his career to end as well. Speaking with Autosport, the two-time world champion indicated that he intends to retire after he's done at McLaren, rather than switch to another team. Of course, he didn't indicate just when that would be, but as far as he's concerned, the road ends in Woking. The highly rated and immensely successful Spanish driver has been on the grid for fourteen years now. He started out with Minardi (precursor to Toro Rosso) in 2001, then spent four seasons with Renault, where he scored back-to-back world titles. He then switched to McLaren for one year, where he won four races, then back to Renault for another three where he and the team fell off their form. Fernando subsequently switched to Ferrari where he spent the last five seasons, thrice finishing second in the world championship but never quite managing to clinch an elusive third title. This year he's back at McLaren but has had a bumpy start. After crashing during a pre-season test session, he sat out the season opener, and failed to finish the second round in Malaysia. He's now in Shanghai preparing for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix. Like this writer, he'll be turning 34 in July, making him the fourth oldest driver on the grid this year. So he's still got a good few years in him, and will likely want to see the troubled rekindling of the McLaren-Honda partnership through to winning form. But while nobody can tell what the future will bring, it looks like any other team that hopes to lure the champ away could end up disappointed.

McLaren's baby P13 coming next year with multiple bodystyles, $160K sticker price

Though you could hardly call it "cheap" by most standards, when McLaren Automotive booted up with the launch of the MP4-12C three years ago, it was, relatively speaking, the most affordable McLaren yet. Cheaper than the original McLaren F1, cheaper than the SLR it made for Mercedes-Benz, and certainly cheaper than any of the racing machinery for which the firm is known. From there, however, things only got more expensive. The 12C Spider arrived with a higher list price than the coupe, the P1 that much more so, and the 650S slots in between the two. As we reported last week, there's a new flagship codenamed P15 in the works that will be less expensive than the P1, but still significantly more than the 12C or 650S. So when will McLaren offer something a little bit more obtainable? That's the next project in the pipeline. Following the internal nomenclature that dubbed the 12C as P11, the 650S as P11M, P1 as P12 and the aforementioned upcoming flagship as P15, the forthcoming "baby McLaren" is known around Woking as the P13. (Which only makes us wonder what the P14 might be, but that's a question for another time.) What we'll be looking at with the P13 (whatever it will be called once it reaches production) is a two-door supercar based on the same carbon Monocell that underpins the rest of the McLaren lineup but will not, contrary to what Car and Driver predicts, be substantially smaller than the 12C. What it will be is cheaper – at least, relatively speaking, that is. In correspondence with Autoblog, McLaren communications chief Wayne Bruce confirms that the P13 will carry a sticker price starting "from around two thirds of what a 12C would cost you today." That would place it around $160,000 (less than what C/D forecasts) and square between the latest Porsche 911 Turbo and Turbo S or the V10 and V10 Plus versions of the Audi R8. "Guessing that its styling might be influenced by P1's, or indeed a 650S," we're told, "is as obvious as saying it'll have two seats." McLaren also confirms that it "will be offered in more than one bodystyle," which we'd take to mean coupe and convertible versions as are offered on the 12C and 650S, but leaves the door open to all sorts of additional possibilities in the future. We're told not to expect the P13 to debut this year, but given McLaren's cadence of revealing one new model per annum, we'd look forward to seeing it sometime in 2015.

McLaren rolls out new competition-spec 650S GT3

When McLaren rolled out its new 650S, we knew it would only be a matter of time before it would completely replace the 12C altogether. And that would include the racing version – not least because McLaren officials told us as much. And with the Goodwood Festival of Speed now getting underway in the UK, Woking's GT racing division has revealed its new GT3-spec racer. The new McLaren 650S GT3 benefits from several key upgrades over the MP4-12C GT3 that's been competing for the past three seasons in racing series like the Blancpain Endurance Series and GT Asia championship – both of whose standings it currently leads – as well as the Pirelli World Challenge, European Le Mans Series and countless local racing series. For starters, McLaren gave its GT racer a new face that not only more closely resemble the 650S (which, like the previous GT3, is also based on the 12C's chassis) but, along with the rest of the revised bodywork (and some rather intriguing-looking wing mirrors), is also more aerodynamically efficient to provide more downforce, better cooling and less drag. McLaren says the 650S GT3 also has a wider track, revised suspension geometry and will cost privateer teams less to run in whichever series they choose thanks to more robust components and a powertrain that can run longer between rebuilds. The cockpit has also been updated to make it more accommodating for drivers who often have to run it over long distances around the clock. McLaren's familiar 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 provides the motivation, mated to a six-speed competition-spec sequential gearbox. But while the same engine produces 641 horsepower in road-going spec, the FIA's Balance of Power regulations mandate it be limited to 493 hp. That actually makes it the least powerful model McLaren makes, but then, of course, the same regulations apply to all the cars against which it will be competing, so customer teams will be counting on the other revisions to help them stay at out ahead of GT3-spec versions of models like the Porsche 911 GT3, Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Ferrari 458 Italia and Bentley Continental GT. McLaren GT says it plans to build 15 examples in time for the start of next season, each selling for GBP330,000 (before tax, or about $560k). However, teams already running the current 12C GT3 will have the opportunity to upgrade theirs to 650S spec as well. Scope out the full details in the press release below.